Many helicopter rotor blades and aircraft propellers include a sacrificial erosion strip mounted on a leading edge of the rotor blade or propeller. The erosion strip is typically formed as a metal detail comprised of nickel, titanium, stainless steel, and/or other metals. The metal detail is configured to protect the rotor blade or propeller from impact damage otherwise caused by rain, sand, dust, and other objects. Because the metal detail becomes worn over time, the metal detail must be periodically removed and replaced with a new metal detail.
For rotor blades and propellers constructed of metallic material, the metal detail may be mechanically fastened and/or adhesively bonded to the leading edge of the rotor blade or propeller. Replacement of a worn metal detail comprises removing the mechanical fasteners and installing a new metal detail on the metal rotor blade or propeller using the same or new mechanical fasteners. For metal details that are adhesively bonded to metal rotor blades or propellers, the metal detail may be removed using a cool-and-chip-away method wherein the rotor blade or propeller is chilled to weaken the adhesive bond. The metal detail may then be removed from the metal blade by chiseling the metal blade off of the metal rotor blade or propeller using a hammer and a chisel.
However, for rotor blades and propellers constructed of composite material such as fiber-reinforced graphite-epoxy material, the metal detail may be adhesively bonded to the composite rotor blade or propeller. Relatively new epoxy adhesive compounds may be stronger at low temperatures than the underlying composite material of the rotor blade or propeller. Due to the high strength of such new epoxy adhesive compounds, it may not be possible to use the cool-and-chip-away method for removing a metal detail from a composite rotor blade or propeller.
As can be seen, there exists a need in the art for a method of removing a metal detail from a rotor blade or propeller formed of composite material.